Ethnic Diversity, Brexit and Social Integration

In the UK, there is a noticeable absence of political dialogue on the integration and assimilation of immigrants while the country’s net migration figures are rapidly growing. We aim to address this gap by exploring the political economy of local councils where immigrants live and work.

Our project proposal suggests that enhancing the political engagement of ethnic minorities may potentially promote effective assimilation and appropriate public policies. It will engage ethnic minorities and facilitate policymaking.

A Study of Local Governments in England

Our two objectives are to study:

1. whether/how descriptive representation of ethnic minorities in local governments can make a substantive policy impact on local spending shares that promote integration, and
2. whether/how Brexit Leave (relative to Remain) councils may have negatively impacted social integration measured by incidence of hate crime and social cohesion indices.

We will collect official information from the Census, local government websites, and the Ministry of Housing and Communities, among others, to build a matched data set of councillors and councils over 2000-23, and employ a regression discontinuity design using close elections to randomise the key explanatory variables identified in (1) and (2).

Analyses of these two objectives would give rise to at least two articles for publication in high-ranked (3* and 4*) peer-reviewed journals. We shall organise a workshop for presentation and dissemination of the research papers of this project along with similar research being carried out by renowned researchers in the UK and the rest of Europe. In addition to dissemination of our research, it will also provide feedback and review of our work and may lead to further collaboration and networking as well as capacity-building to develop new skills and learn about new research methods and techniques.